MAYOR BLOOMBERG SPEAKS ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY NYC CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER PILOT PROGRAM AT LAUNCH OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES' NEW PARTNERSHIP TO FIGHT POVERTY - WITH SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON, OAS SECRETARY GENERAL JOSÉ MIGUEL INSULZA AND OTHER OFFICIALS

"Thank you, Ambassador Quinoñez. Good morning to
you and to our many distinguished guests: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton; OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza; President of Chile, Her
Excellency Dr. Michelle Bachelet, and Inter-American Bank President Ambassador
Luis Alberto Moreno.

"I'd also like to acknowledge from my own Administration:
Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda Gibbs, and Marjorie Tiven, our
commissioner for the New York City Commission for the United Nations, Consular
Corps and Protocol, who is our liaison to foreign governments and international
organizations.

"We are honored that all of you have come to New York
City to have this important dialogue. Gatherings like this are important because
we all have much to learn from each other as we take on the challenges facing
all cities in the 21st century.

"We may speak different languages, eat different foods,
and I'm betting we all root for different soccer teams. But we do share
many of the same goals: to make our communities centers of innovation -
beacons of opportunity - and places where hardworking people can afford to raise
their families and live out their dreams.

"Here in New York City over the last eight years, we've
reduced crime to new lows and have made record improvements in our public
schools. But we don't claim to have all the answers, and we're always looking at
what other great cities are doing.

"For example, there's our Summer Streets program - which
opens city streets to pedestrians and bikers on certain days in the
summer. It was based on an idea that's proved to be wildly popular
in Bogotá. And there's also PlaNYC, our long-term environmental agenda, which
adapts some of the best green practices from cities around the world and tries
to take them to the next level.

"But the program I'm really here to talk to you about
today is called Opportunity NYC. It's an anti-poverty initiative inspired by a
conditional cash transfer program I saw firsthand in Mexico in 2007 - and I
think it's very much in the spirit of the Inter-American Social Protection
Network that we're launching today.

"Many of you have already met with members of our
Administration's groundbreaking agency in charge of fighting poverty - our
Center for Economic Opportunity, and have had a chance to see Opportunity NYC in
action. For those of you who have not, let me give you a little
background: As you well know, conditional cash transfers are financial grants
designed to encourage people to take positive actions that will improve their
futures. For example, making regular doctor's appointments to keep your child
healthy; helping your children apply themselves in the classroom; or opting for
the training that will lead to a better-paying job.

"Financial incentives have already proved to be a
powerful tool in so many areas. The federal government puts them in our tax
code, through policies such as the mortgage interest tax deduction for
homeowners. And the private sector uses them too, in the form of
compensation packages. So why shouldn't local governments also harness the power
of incentives?

"In New York City we've already begun to use incentives
in new, innovative ways. For example, we've incentivized leadership in our
public schools by establishing performance bonuses for principals whose students
make the greatest gains. And now we are the first city in the United States to
test the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers.

"When we studied the program that met with so much
success in rural Mexico, we asked ourselves: How could we adapt it to work
in an urban setting like New York City? To find out, we raised private funding
and began a 2-year pilot program that involved more than 2,400 families. Then,
this year, we raised even more private funding, which allows us to extend the
pilot program for a third year. Doing so will enable us to have a more robust
picture of the long-term viability of Conditional Cash Transfers for cities in
the United States. And our rigorous five year evaluation will allow us to see
whether the initial gains that the cash transfers offer a family can be
sustained over time.

"Opportunity NYC is just one of 40 new poverty-fighting
strategies that our Administration has launched over the past three years.
But it's one of our boldest and many people are anxious to see how we do.
Although we won't have a comprehensive report evaluating the program until the
end of the year, I can share with you some positive trends we've seen in the
preliminary data.

"They suggest that the high school students whose
families are receiving Opportunity NYC grants are improving their school
attendance, and taking and passing rigorous state exams in greater numbers.
While we recognize that more data needs to come in - we're very encouraged by
some of what we've already seen.

"Not every new program that we try is going to be
successful, but if we are serious about breaking the cycle of poverty and
reducing the disparity between rich and poor that, unfortunately, is wider in
our hemisphere than in any other place on Earth, we must be unafraid to test new
approaches rigorously, fully prepared to discard those that don't do the job,
and willing to share with our neighbors the ones that do.

"I'd like to thank you all again for coming to New York
City to have this vital discourse. There is already so much in our nations'
histories and cultures that link us all together. It's easy to see it in a city
like New York - which is home to people from every single one of the countries
represented here today. Let this challenge of reducing poverty be one more link
that binds us to one another and helps us work together toward a common
future.

"Have a wonderful and productive conference, and please
enjoy the rest of your stay in New York City."